[December 13, 2017]
(Reuters) - Apple Inc will
give Finisar Corp $390 million to increase production of
chips that power high-profile iPhone X features
including Face ID, Animojis and portrait-mode photos.

The Apple logo is pictured inside the newly opened
Omotesando Apple store at a shopping district in Tokyo
June 26, 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo

The investment is Apple's second from its $1 billion advanced
manufacturing fund that seeks to foster innovation and create
jobs, Apple said. The first investment was a $200 million
infusion into Gorilla Glass maker Corning Inc in May.

Finisar will use the money to transform a previously closed
700,000-square-foot plant in Sherman, Texas to make high volumes
of laser diodes called vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers,
or VCSELs.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple said it would buy 10 times
more VCSELs than were previously made worldwide over a similar
time period.

The Sherman facility is expected to ship products starting in
the second half of 2018.